Blog

Home Inspection

Tips for buying an HOA community home

inspectordean
HOA common area lake and peninsula. La Quinta CA

My California desert dream home is in a Homeowners Association, and it’s my first experience with an HOA community. Because I like to be in the know, I ran for the HOA Board and just completed two terms on the Board of Directors as the Chair of the Architecture Committee. Here are some tips that I’ve learned as an HOA member and a director.

The most important tip is: Do your research before you buy—especially if you’re an out of state or Canadian snowbird. One of the more important documents governing Homeowner Associations in California is the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act, so learn about this part of the California Civil Code because it governs what you can and cannot do in an HOA community.

Other important tips:

  • Understand what the HOA provides and ask questions before you buy. This will help you budget for dues and inevitable increases.
    • Monthly dues: what’s included? Insurance, common area landscaping, lakes and waterfalls, pools, road maintenance, and roof maintenance are the big items. Utilities like streetlights and landscaping irrigation, cable/internet, and trash pickup are also commonly included.
    • HOA Management: who manages the property? Is it a contracted service or a standalone corporate entity. My HOA is standalone rather than a service and that changes the responsiveness, quality and accountability of the service delivery.
    • Reserves and assessments: these are for other expenses above the monthly dues. Ask the HOA General Manager about the 3 largest reserve items and how well funded they are. Typically the list includes roofs, landscaping, and irrigation infrastructure.
    • Number of Associations: based on the phases of development, your community may have more than one governing association. In my community there is a Master Association that provides services like security and road maintenance over and above what the 3 other Associations provide.
  • Understand what’s in the HOA Governing documents before you buy. The governing documents guide changes to public facing parts of your home. In an HOA community, you must comply with the community aesthetic. Something as simple as the color of your patio umbrella or that funny frog statue may be governed by the community aesthetic. Review the HOA website, read the community newsletter, read the governing Covenants, Conditions & Restrictions (CC&R) documents. During my four years on the Board of Directors, most of our time was spent on these 8 areas, and I’ve included a real life examples.
    • Property and easements: walkways between condos and other multipurpose areas
    • Powers and duties: HOA’s have no control over wildlife like birds, skunks, or rodents
    • Assessments: this is a big deal when deferred maintenance for roofs, roads, or pool equipment come due
    • Use restrictions: driveway use, yards signs, rentals, timeshares
    • Architectural control: changes visible to community require approval including garage doors, windows, rooflines, fence lines, landscaping
    • Maintenance responsibilities: streets, landscaping, building exteriors, paint colors
    • Insurance: responsibilities for specific parts of the building structure; earthquake insurance
    • Enforcement and member discipline: rules and fine structures for things like noise, speeding, parking, etc.
  • Understand that a healthy HOA will raise monthly dues on a regular basis. The marketplace for goods and services drives increases. Labor and material costs grow. While I was on the Board, the cost of natural gas skyrocketed and that drove up the cost of heating 50+ pools and spas hitting our budget hard.
  • Remember that you are joining an association of homeowners with different ideas and interests. HOA Boards are made up of volunteers who are serving the community. Good listening skills and the willingness to compromise are required of all members.

When shopping for your desert dream home in an association community, remember that you are one member of a group of property owners who all have stewardship of the larger community. My role as a Director was to consider the interests of all 1400 members in our association. As I learned from Star Trek: the good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one–who wants a plunge pool on the golf course fairway!

Dean Rivale, PMP® is a licensed general contractor, CREIA Certified Home Inspector, and Home Remodel Construction Manager for the Coachella Valley.

Home Remodel

Tips for a successful home remodel: The Contract

inspectordean
Demo progress at Palm Desert Remodel.


I’m currently managing a $300K home remodel in the University Park Village area of Palm Desert, California. Here are 3 tips about the importance of contracts between a homeowner, general contractor, and the sub-contractors.

Signed contracts between all parties are the key to managing a successful project. To stay on time and on budget, you need signed contracts to make sure that everyone is on the same page even for smaller projects like this one.

  • Signed Contract: I came to this project after the kickoff and missing contracts are the root cause of every issue and cost overrun that we’ve had. All parties went into the project in good faith, and they have signed proposals rather than signed contracts. A proposal is a summary of the scope, list of materials, and price quote. It doesn’t have enough information to resolve problems. A contract includes a detailed scope of work with a price breakdown and a schedule of values to use for progress payments. It also describes how to make changes as the project evolves. I’ve spent time resolving costly conflicts because each party remembers conversations differently. There are no contracts to clarify the scope, clear responsibilities, or make changes. The spirit of work done on a handshake is a nice idea, but all parties need the protection of contract documents to understand expectations and work cooperatively.
  • Detailed Scope of Work: the Scope of Work must be detailed. A summary helps shape the project but a detailed scope is the guide to breaking down the work and deciding how it will flow. It’s a list of items that will be done and may also include items that are out of scope. The summary scope of work on this job led to a costly miscommunication about countertop installation. There were two subcontractors involved and each thought that the other was responsible for work that didn’t get done. It’s been 5 weeks, the conflict is still unresolved, and the materials remain at the supplier 110 miles away. That’s extra time and money.
  • Schedule of values: the Scope of Work also includes a schedule of values to make progress payments. Progress payments are based on the percentage of work that is complete and is agreed to in advance. This helps with cash flow for all parties. The work breakdown structure sequences the work and assigns timing and dollar amounts to the pieces of that work. It can’t be vague or too specific.

Remember that a contract with a detailed scope and schedule of values is necessary for projects of all sizes. To hit your budget numbers and project schedule milestones, you need a written guide. Please reach out to me if you need assistance planning and managing your remodel project.

Dean Rivale, PMP® is a licensed general contractor, CREIA Certified Home Inspector, and Home Remodel Construction Manager for the Coachella Valley.

Home Inspection

New Build Inspections

inspectordean
New Home Construction and Coral Mountain, La Quinta CA

Your newly built forever home is finished.  Your reputable builder has followed the plans and specifications to the letter.  Are you sure?  No matter how conscientious your builder is, they are human and can make mistakes.  Do you have the expertise to assess the as-built condition of your new home?  If you do, great!  If you don’t, it’s a good idea to have an independent inspector look at your newly constructed home before final sign off. It will give you an opportunity to get repairs made more quickly.

Over the past year, I’ve inspected Coachella Valley new construction homes at Floresta, Coral Mountain, Trilogy Polo, and Signature. Although these are newly constructed homes, I still found issues that are common in most homes.  I typically find issues related to garage doors, electrical panels, roofing and stucco installation. By having an independent inspection, any of the issues uncovered can be added and resolved during the punch list phase.  If a problem is discovered later, you must go through your builder’s warranty process.  Waiting to request warranty work will only prolong the completion of the project or even worse it could prevent you from moving in on time. 

Each of the following photos is from a newly constructed home inspected prior to issuing a punch list for final sign off by the buyers.  Each of the issues was resolved prior to move in thereby avoiding the warranty process.

If you’re shopping for a new builds in the Coachella Valley, please contact me about an independent inspection to understand the punch list issues prior to your close date.

Dean Rivale, PMP is licensed general contractor CSLB 652130, CREIA certified home inspector, and home remodel construction manager serving the Coachella Valley.

Home Inspection

Before you list your luxury home

inspectordean

When selling your luxury home filled with custom features, it’s easy to overlook the health of the systems that make them work. The best route to a smooth closing is to address these systems before you list. After recent inspections of multi-million dollar desert homes, I’ve compiled a list of things that sellers and buyers are battling over.

  • Updated pool equipment: you’ve completely renovated your kitchens and bathrooms, but you still have 15 year old pool equipment outside. Pool inspections should call out the age of the equipment and whether replacement parts are available. I’ve seen this a few times and it’s a big point of contention because buyers don’t want to get hit with a $15,000 pool equipment upgrade.
  • Pool deck cracks: it’s common to believe that pool deck cracks are an easy cosmetic fix. However, the cracks could be created by the pressure of the water in the pool or natural settlement of the backyard. If it’s natural settlement, that’s a cosmetic fix. If it’s a more complex issue created by the pressure of the water, there may be a crack in the pool and that’s a costly fix.
  • Casita maintenance and upgrades: remember that your casita may not be used that often but it’s a real selling point with buyers. Your casita needs the same regular maintenance and finish upgrades as the main house. Buyer’s start looking more closely at potential red flags in the main house if the casita needs work.
  • Remote controlled accordion doors, shades, and blinds: they must work! At a recent inspection the gorgeous doors did not open with the remote, so I had to list them as a defect. Make sure they’ve had a tune up, and that the operating instructions are available to anyone showing the home.
  • Garage concerns: if you have an AC unit the garage, have it serviced regularly so it’s in good working order. Also, it’s nice to see an ABC Fire extinguisher mounted the wall–especially if you have a golf cart. It’s a safety detail that reflects well on the the overall maintenance of the space.

Use this checklist to determine if you need a pre-sale inspection. I’d be happy to inspect before you list to help ease the way to a smoother negotiation.

Dean Rivale, PMP is licensed general contractor CSLB 652130, CREIA certified home inspector, and home remodel construction manager serving the Coachella Valley.

Home Inspection

Keeping up with home maintenance

inspectordean

IMG_2672
Plant & soil debris around air conditioning unit

Not many people enjoy doing home maintenance tasks, but deferring those chores can add up when it comes to selling your home. Many of my inspection findings are directly related to deferred maintenance, and those findings create lots of tension for buyers, sellers, and realtors. In a recent transaction, a $300 kitchen appliance almost blew up the deal.  Keeping up with home maintenance leads to a smoother sales transaction, and it will enhance the enjoyment of your home while you live in it.

When doing an inspection, I work from the outside in, so here are my tips for keeping up with outside maintenance.

  • Repair cracks in concrete walkways and patios
  • Monitor places where water can get in like windows, electrical panels, or stucco cracks, and remember to point sprinkler heads away from your home
  • Service pool equipment regularly, and maintain all deck coatings
  • Conduct annual roof maintenance

Once inside the home, there are two categories of maintenance: MEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing) systems and general.

MEP systems maintenance:

  • Service HVAC regularly, change filters, replace refrigerant when required, clear plant and soil debris away from equipment; a tuned system runs more efficiently and saves on energy costs;
  • Know the age of your HVAC so that you understand when it’s coming to the end of its useful life and may need to be replaced
  • Monitor water heater for leaks and changes in temperature; remember to use the vacation setting when you’re away on short trips
  • Verify that electrical outlets located near water sources are GFCI protected, and replace cracked or missing electrical cover plates
Taking care of general home maintenance will make your life easier as you live in your home, and it shows pride of ownership at resale time.
  • Clean windows, screens, and slider door tracks
  • Repair running toilets and dripping faucets
  • Repair or update appliances when problems arise

If you’re curious about the state of your home prior to listing it, I recommend doing a pre-sale inspection to highlight needed repairs before you’re facing a deadline or are in the midst of negotiating a deal.

Dean Rivale, PMP is licensed general contractor CSLB 652130, CREIA certified home inspector, and home remodel construction manager serving the Coachella Valley.